EDITORIAL: Weakening public control

The proposed changes to UC's governance would weaken the public's control over the public university system, turning it into a collection of private universities that receive free campuses courtesy of taxpayers, with almost no taxpayer oversight.

The changes being floated would allow each of the 10 UC campuses to set its own tuition and determine how many out-of-state students to admit ---- stripping the appointed Board of Regents of that authority.

Decentralizing those decision-making powers may sound ideal when framed in terms of "local control," but this proposal would not give oversight to the communities where the UC campuses are located. Instead, power would be held and exercised by the appointed administrators.

When the Board of Regents strays from serving Californians, as it is doing in the matter of increasing out-of-state admissions, the governor can return the board to center by appointing better regents. It's not a particularly efficient or quick method of bringing about change to the UC's governance, but it is responsive. We know exactly who appointed the regents (the governor) and can hold that person responsible at the next election.

If decision-making is moved from a statewide board that answers, at least indirectly, to our elected leader to administrators at each campus who enjoy far greater autonomy, the voters who built and support the UC system as a place for their children and grandchildren to receive a world-class education at an affordable price will have almost no way to effect policy change. Each campus will become a self-governing private institution, answerable only to itself.

For private universities, that's fine. They will succeed or fail based on their ability to attract enough students to cover their bills.

But for a public university system ---- founded as it was on the premise that it belongs to and will serve the people of this state ---- public input is critical. The voters and taxpayers of California have a reasonable expectation that the policies of the UC will roughly correspond to the values and culture of the state as a whole.

And that expectation cannot be met with autonomous campuses that answer to no one.